Sir Donald McCullin, CBE, Hon FRPS (1935), is a British photojournalist, particularly recognized for his war photography and images of urban strife. His career, which began in 1959, has specialized in examining the underside of society, and his photographs have depicted the unemployed, downtrodden and the impoverished.
McCullin grew up in North London, but he was evacuated to a farm in Somerset during the Blitz. He is slightly dyslexic but displayed a talent for drawing at the Secondary Modern School he attended. He won a scholarship to Hammersmith School of Arts and Crafts but, following the death of his father, he left school at the age of 15, without qualifications, for a catering job on the railways. He was then called up for National Service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1953.
During McCullin's period of National Service in the RAF, he was posted to the Canal Zone during the 1956 Suez Crisis, where he worked as a photographer's assistant. He failed the written theory paper to become a photographer in the RAF and spent his service in the darkroom. During this period McCullin bought his first camera, a Rolleicord for £30 when stationed in Nairobi, Kenya. On return to Britain, a shortage of funds led to his pawning the camera and his mother used her money to redeem the pledge.
Between 1966 and 1984, he worked as an overseas correspondent for the Sunday Times Magazine, recording ecological and man-made catastrophes such as wars, amongst them Biafra in 1968, and victims of the African AIDS epidemic. His hard-hitting coverage of the Vietnam War and the Northern Ireland conflict is particularly highly regarded.
In 1968, his Nikon camera stopped a bullet intended for him. Also in 1968, on 28 July, he was invited to photograph the Beatles, then at the height of their fame and in the midst of recording The White Album. These sessions, made at several London locations, have become known as The Mad Day Out. They contain many well-known images of the band, including the gatefold sleeve picture from the Red and Blue compilations, where the Beatles mingled with the crowd seen through railings. The photographs from this day were published in the 2010 book A Day in the Life of the Beatles.
In 1982 the British Government refused to grant McCullin a press pass to cover the Falklands War, claiming the boat was full. At the time he believed it was because the Thatcher government felt his images might be too disturbing politically.
He is the author of a number of books, including The Palestinians (with Jonathan Dimbleby, 1980), Beirut: A City in Crisis (1983) and Don McCullin in Africa (2005).
In 2012, a documentary film of his life titled McCullin and directed by David Morris and Jacqui Morris was released. The film was nominated for two BAFTA awards. In November 2015 McCullin was named the Photo London Master of Photography for 2016, at the launch of Photo London, an art fair due to open at Somerset House in May 2016.
Filmed in February 2018 and broadcast the following May, the BBC Four documentary The Road To Palmyra saw McCullin visit Syria with historian Dan Cruickshank to see the devastation left by the conflict on the UNESCO listed site of Palmyra.
© 2020. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Sir Donald McCullin. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only
McCullin grew up in North London, but he was evacuated to a farm in Somerset during the Blitz. He is slightly dyslexic but displayed a talent for drawing at the Secondary Modern School he attended. He won a scholarship to Hammersmith School of Arts and Crafts but, following the death of his father, he left school at the age of 15, without qualifications, for a catering job on the railways. He was then called up for National Service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1953.
During McCullin's period of National Service in the RAF, he was posted to the Canal Zone during the 1956 Suez Crisis, where he worked as a photographer's assistant. He failed the written theory paper to become a photographer in the RAF and spent his service in the darkroom. During this period McCullin bought his first camera, a Rolleicord for £30 when stationed in Nairobi, Kenya. On return to Britain, a shortage of funds led to his pawning the camera and his mother used her money to redeem the pledge.
Between 1966 and 1984, he worked as an overseas correspondent for the Sunday Times Magazine, recording ecological and man-made catastrophes such as wars, amongst them Biafra in 1968, and victims of the African AIDS epidemic. His hard-hitting coverage of the Vietnam War and the Northern Ireland conflict is particularly highly regarded.
In 1968, his Nikon camera stopped a bullet intended for him. Also in 1968, on 28 July, he was invited to photograph the Beatles, then at the height of their fame and in the midst of recording The White Album. These sessions, made at several London locations, have become known as The Mad Day Out. They contain many well-known images of the band, including the gatefold sleeve picture from the Red and Blue compilations, where the Beatles mingled with the crowd seen through railings. The photographs from this day were published in the 2010 book A Day in the Life of the Beatles.
In 1982 the British Government refused to grant McCullin a press pass to cover the Falklands War, claiming the boat was full. At the time he believed it was because the Thatcher government felt his images might be too disturbing politically.
He is the author of a number of books, including The Palestinians (with Jonathan Dimbleby, 1980), Beirut: A City in Crisis (1983) and Don McCullin in Africa (2005).
In 2012, a documentary film of his life titled McCullin and directed by David Morris and Jacqui Morris was released. The film was nominated for two BAFTA awards. In November 2015 McCullin was named the Photo London Master of Photography for 2016, at the launch of Photo London, an art fair due to open at Somerset House in May 2016.
Filmed in February 2018 and broadcast the following May, the BBC Four documentary The Road To Palmyra saw McCullin visit Syria with historian Dan Cruickshank to see the devastation left by the conflict on the UNESCO listed site of Palmyra.
© 2020. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Sir Donald McCullin. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only
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| Sir Donald McCullin |
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| 1961, Friedrichstrasse, Berlin |
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| 1961, Looking into East Berlin |
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| 1961, Near Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin |
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| 1962, Hessel Street Jewish District East End London |
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| 1962, Protester, Cuban Missile Crisis, Whitehall, London |
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| 1963, Early Morning, West Hartlepool |
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| 1963, Unemployed Men Gathering Coal from the Shore, West Hartlepool, County Durham |
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| 1964, Congolese Soldiers Tormenting Captured Lumumbist Freedom Fighters before Killing Them |
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| 1964, Mourning Woman, Cyprus, (this woman's husband was killed in a gun battle in Gazabaran) |
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| 1964, Turkish Defender Leaving the Side Entrance of a Cinema, Limassol, Cyprus |
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| 1964, Turkish Defenders Waiting for the Attack, Limassol, Cyprus |
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| 1965, Sheep going to the Slaughter House early morning near Caledonia Road |
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| 1967, Biafra |
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| 1968, A Dead North Vietnamese Soldier, The Battle of Hue |
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| 1968, Battle for the City of Hue (US Marine inside the civilian house) |
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| 1968, Charlie Company Use Set Position in the Middle of the Road to Shoot at Distant Running N.V.A. Soldiers, Hue, Vietnam |
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| 1968, Damaged Schoolhouse, Tet Offensive, Hue |
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| 1968, Marines, Hue, Vietnam |
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| 1968, Shell-shocked US marine, the Battle of Huế |
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| 1968, Starving 24-Year-Old Mother with Child, Biafra |
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| 1968, US Marine Hurling a Grenade Seconds before Being Shot through the Left Hand, Hue, Vietnam |
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| 1968, Vietcong Execution |
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| 1969, Albino Boy, Biafra |
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| 1969, Vietnam Confessions |
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| 1970, A Young Girl Taking the Family Laundry, Bradford, Yorkshire |
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| 1970, Dying Cambodian Paratrooper Hit by Same Mortar Shell that Hit McCullin, Near Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
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| 1970, Homeless Irishman, Spitalfields, London |
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| 1970, Sleeping man, Spitalfields, London |
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| 1970s, On the pier at Eastbourne |
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| 1971, Northern Ireland, The Bogside, Londonderry |
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| 1971, Northern Ireland, The Bogside, Londonderry. |
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| 1971, Attacking Army, Londonderry, Northern Ireland |
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| 1971, Gangs of Boys Escaping CS Gas Fired by British Soldiers, Londonderry, Northern Ireland |
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| 1971, The Bogside, Derry, Northern Ireland |
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| 1972, Local Boys in Bradford |
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| 1974, Consett, County Durham |
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| 1976, A Dead Palestinian Woman, while in the Background Christian Phalange Fighters were Looting Palestinian Farmers, Beirut |
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| 1976, Christian Gunmen in Foyer of Holiday Inn, Beirut |
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| 1976, Old Palestinian and his Wife Begging for Mercy from the Christian gunmen, Beirut |
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| 1976, Young Christian Youth Celebrating the Death of a Young Palestinian Girl, Beirut |
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| 1978, Bradford, Boys in Bed |
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| 1982, A Palestinian Woman Returning to the Ruins of her House, Sabra, Beirut |
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| 1982, After the Massacre of Sabra Camp in Beirut |
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| 1982, Destroyed Part of West Beirut due to Israeli Bombing |
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| 2006-09, The Avenue, Apamea, Syria |
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| 2008, The Colonnade, Palmyra, Syria |
The Vietcong execution was taken by Eddie Adams not Don
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